The Skimmer

The Art of Choosing

By Sheena Iyengar

Twelve; 352 pages

Your decision to read this book (or not) will be influenced by several factors. There's the title and the cover art--though you know you shouldn't judge a book, etc., etc. There's what you may hear from friends. There's also this review. Obviously, none of this is a matter of life and death, but a decision will have to be made nonetheless. Sheena Iyengar, a Columbia University business professor and social psychologist, is concerned with improving how we deal with all choices. She examines decisions both minor--like choosing the beverages we drink--and monumental, including the dilemma of parents faced with whether or not to keep brain-damaged infants on life support. Through personal stories, her own experiments and other research, she dissects perceptions of choice (do we actually have it, and how desirable is it?) and what those perceptions mean. While Iyengar's often strained attempts to affect a colloquial tone are jarring, her point is well taken. As she suggests, in a world with ever increasing options, understanding choice may be more important than the choices themselves.

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